1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to electrical power consumption and in particular to a mechanism and method for specifying the sources of power and managing the levels of electrical power consumption in electrical devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
A growing number of businesses that sell consumer products or services are providing customers the option to purchase carbon offsets to reduce the harmful effects of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on the environment. These harmful carbon dioxide emissions are generally produced by the burning of fossil fuels to provide electricity for these businesses to power a product/device, service, or class of devices or services. Carbon offsets enable individuals and businesses to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions that these individuals and businesses are responsible for by offsetting, reducing or displacing the CO2 in another place, typically where it is more economical to do so. Renewable power sources represent one class of power sources that provides carbon offsets. However, all renewable sources are not the same, nor are all carbon offset providers equal. Therefore, a customer may want to specify a preferred renewable energy provider or preferred carbon offset broker, instead of having to use the services of the providers or brokers that the businesses that provide consumer products or services have chosen. These renewable energy providers may include brokers or providers that are selling “high quality” carbon offsets. This system that allows a customer to specify an energy provider may be applied similarly to transactions within any type of business, for example, transactions associated with airplane travel and hotel stays. In addition, a system by which a consumer specifies the energy provider may also be applied to presently unrealized fields, such as pay-at-the-gas-pump carbon offsets, power consumption at the device level, and product purchases where a product has an associated carbon footprint for the manufacture and transport of the product. In each case the customer's specification information may be used to select the source of power or carbon offset associated with transactions within the particular business field.
Presently, a consumer, a good or a service is unable to specify a power source for a device, service, or class of devices or services. Furthermore, an individual utilization device or service, such as a lighting fixture, appliance, entertainment device, cleaning service, or other such devices or services that use electrical power are unable to specify the source of electrical power. Current solutions each have specific limitations. For example, various devices and service providers obtain power from a single central power grid that is not responsive to a demand for a particular power source. Furthermore, the device is not responsive to the availability of a desired power source or to the preferred device configuration by a device user.